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Kennedy vs Kenyatte

American parents have registered 101,120 Kennedys since 1880, against 184 Kenyattes. Kennedy is still ahead, with 3,019 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kennedy against Kenyatte, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kennedy Kenyatte

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 108 years in which either name was published, Kennedy for 107 years and Kenyatte for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Kennedy Kenyatte
Total US births 101,120184
Most in one year 4,68838
Babies in 2025 3,019under 5
Estimated living today 100,000170
Median age today 1349
Peak year 20151975
Best rank 58th girls1,704th boys
Rank in 2025 85thunranked
First recorded 19121972
Girls / boys 93,663 / 7,45761 / 123

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Kenyattes alive today are over 49; half the Kennedys are over 13. That is 36 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kennedy and Kenyatte.